'Water is a mirror of our communal soul' -- a ritual for healing a watershed

by Rich Heffern

Eco Catholic

Sara Leeland put together a wonderful ritual titled "In Living Community: A Spirituality of Water," that was first presented in Prince Frederick Md., on Jul. 22, 2006.

Her local watershed, Chesapeake Bay, was in trouble. Its waters are on the edge of dying. Population growth overloads the water's edges; nitrate fertilizers from local farms add up to dead zones in rivers and in the Bay.

She notes that waters are in trouble everywhere -- in Michigan, in Kansas, in the Great Lakes as a whole, in China. In Africa and South Asia, hundreds die every day as a result of drinking dirty water.

"Water is a mirror of our communal soul." Leeland's ritual and presentation is available on the Web. It is available for use by anyone and can be modified to fit your own particular watershed.